# CICI: UCSS: Securing Research Cyberinfrastructures with Zero Trust and Agentic AI

> **NSF 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT** · Texas A&M University Corpus Christi (TX) · $599,958

## Abstract

Research Cyberinfrastructure (RCI) supports cutting-edge scientific projects benefitting individuals, the environment, national security, and economic competitiveness. Despite the potential benefits, recent attacks have compromised the integrity of scientific data and resources such as computing time and network bandwidth, ultimately affecting the public’s confidence in scientific results. As a response, countermeasures have been proposed based on Zero Trust (ZT), an emerging paradigm calling for the continuous evaluation and enforcement of authorization policies, which protect RCIs by restricting access to sensitive data and resources. However, it is difficult for practitioners of RCIs, namely, administrators, researchers, and students, to correctly write, evaluate, and enforce the many different authorization policies needed to provide effective cyber-protections.

To address these challenges, this project develops ZT-Agents, which leverage Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to provide next-generation cyber-protections for RCIs, ultimately pursuing the following goals: (i) Advancing the state-of-the-art in cyber-protections by developing AI agents for continuous evaluation and enforcement of authorization policies for RCIs; (ii) Enabling practitioners to conveniently learn and retrofit Agentic AI-augmented authorization technologies for RCIs, balancing security, usability, and the needs of research-driven enterprises; (iii) Providing evidence-backed technical

## Key facts

- **NSF award ID:** 2613459
- **Awardee organization:** Texas A&M University Corpus Christi (TX)
- **SAM.gov UEI:** Y3RET2XN41S5
- **PI:** Carlos E Rubio-Medrano
- **Primary program:** 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
- **All programs:** Artificial Intelligence (AI), CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE
- **Estimated total:** $599,958
- **Funds obligated:** $599,958
- **Transaction type:** Standard Grant
- **Period:** 08/01/2026 → 07/31/2029

## Primary source

NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2613459

## Citation

> US National Science Foundation, Award 2613459, CICI: UCSS: Securing Research Cyberinfrastructures with Zero Trust and Agentic AI. Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-08 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nsf/2613459. Licensed CC0.

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